Bill Haley - Saga All Stars: R-O-C-K / Selected Singles 1954-55 (1976)

Bill Haley is the neglected hero of early rock & roll. Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly are ensconced in the heavens, transformed into veritable constellations in the rock music firmament, their music respected by writers and scholars as well as the record-buying public, virtually every note of music they ever recorded theoretically eligible for release. And among rock & roll pioneers, Chuck Berry is also given his due in the music marketplace and by the history books, and Bo Diddley is acknowledged appropriately in the latter, even if his music doesn't sell the way it should. Yet Bill Haley — who was there before any of them, playing rock & roll before it even had a name, and selling it in sufficient quantities on a small Pennsylvania label to attract attention from the major labels before Presley was even recording in Memphis — is barely represented by more than a dozen of his early singles, and recognized by the average listener for exactly two songs among the hundreds that he recorded; and he's often treated as little more than a glorified footnote, an anomaly that came and went very quickly, in most histories of the music. The truth is, Bill Haley came along a lot earlier than most people realize and history usually acknowledges, and he went on making good music for years longer than is usually recognized.

Tracklist:
1. Bill Haley & his Comets - (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock (02:14)
2. Bill Haley & his Comets - Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town) (02:55)
3. Bill Haley & his Comets - Shake, Rattle and Roll (02:32)
4. Bill Haley & his Comets - ABC Boogie (02:29)
5. Bill Haley & his Comets - Happy Baby (02:37)
6. Bill Haley & his Comets - Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere) (02:33)
7. Bill Haley & his Comets - Birth of the Boogie (02:16)
8. Bill Haley & his Comets - Mambo Rock (02:39)
9. Bill Haley & his Comets - Razzle Dazzle (02:44)
10. Bill Haley & his Comets - Two Hound Dogs (03:00)
11. Bill Haley & his Comets - Rock A-Beatin' Boogie (02:20)
12. Bill Haley & his Comets - Burn That Candle (02:47)
13. Bill Haley & his Comets - See You Later, Alligator (02:47)
14. Bill Haley & his Comets - The Paper Boy (On Main Street - U.S.A.) (02:31)
15. Bill Haley & his Comets - The Saints' Rock 'N' Roll (03:28)
16. Bill Haley & his Comets - R-O-C-K (02:20)